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Not a joke - this actually happens

Can you believe this? There's even junk food marketing in our schools. It's enough to have to deal with junk food marketing pretty much everywhere else. But it certainly shouldn't be reading, writing, and junk food ads in schools!

That's right! There are no national standards about what can, and cannot, be advertised to kids in schools, even though there are great new standards for what foods can be sold in schools starting next school year!

Providing healthier snacks at school has been shown to help kids make healthier choices all day long. [1] Advertisements are powerful. So, having a school offer healthier choices in vending machines and a la carte lines while at the same time promoting unhealthy choices through junk food marketing can be confusing to say the least.

It's hard enough for an adult to make the right decision when bombarded with marketing. Children are even more vulnerable to aggressive marketing. It is difficult for young children to even tell the difference between ads and programs when watching television shows. [2]

Progress is being made but we are still in the midst of a serious children's health crisis. Today, 23 million children in the United States are at greater risk for nutrition-related illnesses like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure because they are overweight or obese. [3] We know that schools and the school environment play a tremendous role in what foods and beverages children eat and drink, as well as the choices they make when they leave school. [4]

Last year, MomsRising.org members like you were among the 250,000 people who successfully spoke up in support of healthier standards for snacks sold in school vending machines and a la carte lines. It was an amazing victory, and this coming school year those new Smart Snacks standards go into effect. We must keep up the MOMentum!

Let's keep the pressure on and turn the page on this health crisis by making healthier messages an all-day affair for kids in schools.

Together, we are a strong force for women and families!

- Monifa, Donna, Migdalia, Karen, dream and the rest of the MomsRising.org team!

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